


Early Morning

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [97]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, Kid Fic, Kid Tony Stark, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Sickfic, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 11:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17263097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: Tony was sick and was just not getting better.ORThe one where Steve had to take Tony to the hospital very early in the morning.





	Early Morning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scavenge4Dreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scavenge4Dreams/gifts).



> For Scavenge4Dreams, because I have read all her works over again in the last 4 months to escape real life and it has been wonderful. Also I hear it's her birthday, so that too.

It was 3:07am when Bucky woke up and found he was alone in his bed. He reached over blindly, tapping around just to be sure but the sheets were cold. With a sigh, Bucky rolled out of bed and put on his slippers – because the floor was freezing – and wandered out of the bedroom to the living room. There he found his boyfriend, swaying around the room with Tony in his arms, coughing into his neck.

“Still not feeling good?” yawned Bucky, leaning against the wall.

“No, his cough is sounding worse,” said Steve with a frown. 

“Here, let me take him,” said Bucky, reaching out. “You get some sleep.”

“It’s fine,” said Steve. “Go back to bed, I’ve got him.”

“Stevie, you’ve been up with him for three nights already, you’ve barely slept. Just go to bed. I’ll take care of the kid.”

Tony coughed again, deep and rattling in his chest. Steve cooed and patted the kid’s back.

“Poor baby,” said Steve.

Tony sniffled.

“Hey kiddo,” said Bucky with a soft smile, running a hand over Tony’s sweaty hair. “Want to hang out with me for a bit, give Uncle Steve time for a nap?”

“No,” croaked Tony. “Want Uncle Steve.”

“Will you get the thermometer?” asked Steve, sitting on the couch. “I think his temperature has climbed again.”

Bucky went to the kitchen to get the thermometer and started a pot of coffee while he was at it. Tony had come down with a cold a few days ago that he just couldn’t seem to shake. They had poor kid was exhausted and fussy which meant that he was clingy, so Steve was getting very little sleep.

“Here we go,” said Bucky, walking back over to his boyfriend. “Hold him still, I’ll take his temp.”

Bucky ran the instrument over Tony’s head and looked at the reading.

“I think maybe it’s time to visit the h-o-s-p-i-t-a-l,” said Bucky quietly, holding up the reading for Steve to see.

“Yeah, I agree,” said Steve, his voice trembling slightly with nerves. “I’ll go get a bag packed.”

“I’ll call ahead and see if it’s a long wait,” said Bucky.

“Where we going?” asked Tony, voice scratchy from coughing.

“We’re going on a drive,” said Steve brightly. Tony hated the doctor, so telling him before would only cause more stress than needed. “I’m just packing up in case we decide to stay somewhere.”

Tony shrugged and settled listlessly against Steve’s chest. Steve kissed the messy hair and went to the bedroom to throw a change of clothes into a duffle and Tony’s favorite blanket, which was on the bed he shared with Bucky because Tony had been sleeping with them – until he woke up coughing again. Within ten minutes they were ready to go.

Steve got Tony settled into the minivan and was setting the duffle on the floorboard when Bucky sat in the driver seat and passed back a travel mug of coffee.

“Thanks, I’ll be up there in a second,” said Steve absently.

“No, you get to ride in the back with the kid,” yawned Bucky. “No come on, the nice man on the phone said if we get there in ten minutes then he can keep the space open and we can get right in.”

“What would I do without you?” said Steve, a sappy smile on his face.

“Probably the same stuff but less efficiency,” said Bucky. “Now let’s get to the hos-“

“Place. Let’s get to the place.”

Bucky smiled.

When they arrived they were immediately seen to a small room with a bed and sliding glass door. Steve set Tony on the bed. Tony glared at him, betrayed.

“What are the symptoms?” said a man in scrubs, entering the room looking business-like.

“High fever and been coughing for a few days,” said Steve. He proceeded to tell the doctor in detail everything that Tony had been feeling and doing for the last three days, even handing over a list of temperatures in chronological order while Tony coughed in the background.

“Are you his father?”

“No,” said Steve.

“Are you his father?” asked the doctor, aiming his gaze at Bucky instead.

“Nope,” said Bucky.

“Okay,” sighed the doctor. “Then will you please tell me who is the primary caregiver?”

“Me,” said Steve and Bucky at the same time.

“Tony’s father passed away recently and I’m his uncle, so I have custody,” said Steve. “And Bucky is my boyfriend who lives with us, so he also looks after Tony.”

“I don’t really care about the dynamics, I just need to know who is going to be spending the night,” said the doctor in a bored voice. “I’ll have to run a few tests to confirm but from how the cough sounds and what you have described it sounds like pneumonia.”

“No,” whined Tony, trying to crawl over to Steve. “Want to go home.”

“Here, stay with Bucky, Tony,” said Steve. “I’m going to talk to the doctor in the hall for a moment.”

Tony’s glare was ruined by the coughing fit he went into. Steve took a step towards him before Bucky got up and waved him off.

“Go, I’ve got the terror,” said Bucky.

Steve nodded reluctantly and followed the doctor out to the hall.

“Look, doctor – sorry, what did you say your name was?” said Steve.

“I didn’t, but it’s Dr. Strange,” said the doctor.

“Dr. Strange,” said Steve. “I understand that it’s probably better to stay at the hospital but Tony has a bit of a phobia of hospitals – with good reason. Both his parents are dead and the last time we were in a hospital was because of a car accident where we went into the river and –“

Dr. Strange crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Is there any way I could just get some antibiotics and go home?” pleaded Steve.

“I’ll see what I can do,” said Dr. Strange, walking off before Steve could even thank him, ordering nurses to run some tests for him.

Steve went back into the room to wait.

It took a few hours for the results to come back but by 6:09am Dr. Strange was back in the room with them.

“Go home, take the kid, give him these, and make sure he drinks lots of fluids,” said Dr. Strange, shoving a bag from the hospital pharmacy into Steve’s hands. “I will stop by the check on him tomorrow and you have my number if you think he’s getting worse.”

Again, Dr. Strange left before Steve could say anything. A nurse stepped up and took the paperwork from Steve so they could leave.

“Stephen must really like you, he’s not the type to make house calls or give out his number,” commented the nurse with a smile. “Or he’s just fallen for this cute little guy.”

She ruffled Tony’s hair. The boy had finally fallen asleep and was drooling into Steve’s shirt. Steve smiled at the nurse and swayed gently to keep Tony asleep. Bucky grabbed the bag and followed Steve out the door. When they arrived back at the apartment, Steve put Tony to bed in his own bed but left the door open in case he needed anything. 

“Please go to sleep,” said Bucky. “I’ll watch the kid.”

“But what if something happens?”

“Then I’ll call Dr. Strange.”

“That guy was a dick,” said Steve with a pout.

“Yeah, but he is the best and he seemed to like Tony. Go to sleep. You’ll need it when he wakes up and doesn’t want anyone but you.”

Steve rolled his eyes but kissed Bucky before heading to sleep – at least until Tony woke back up and needed another dose of cough medicine.

**Author's Note:**

> Turns out I only wrote 48,000 words last year and that is awful.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
